From her beginnings as a lawyer to a master in the art of large scale knitted creations, Australian fibre artist Jacqui Fink of Little Dandelion sure has one hell of an inspiring story to tell.
Her passion for large-scale or “extreme” knitting came about in one of the most unusual ways. During a period of great emotion in her life when she was feeling disconnected from her work and dealing with her mother’s lung cancer diagnosis Jacqui was asleep in bed when as she describes it, “a big voice just said to me… “you need to knit and it needs to be big!”.
Although her mother had taught her to knit when she was a child, she had never learnt the language of knitting. Overcoming the naysayers to follow her newfound creative passion, Jacqui spent around two years reacquainting herself with the world of knitting, learning how to felt fibre and knitting it into the beautiful masterpieces she creates today.
Over the weekend I was lucky enough to have a chat with Jacqui ahead of her EDEN masterclass this Saturday at the Canberra Centre about the emotional and inspiring story behind her passion for knitting big, her favourite places to visit in Canberra and what we can expect at her masterclass this Saturday at the Canberra Centre.
Have you been to Canberra before and if so, where are your favourite places to visit?
“My husband often works in Canberra and I have come down for day trips with the kids. I love it although I don’t like the cold! It’s a really dynamic place, it feels good to visit and there’s a lot of stuff going on. I love the National Gallery and the Portrait Gallery and I recently came to Canberra to see the Cartier exhibition.”
What is it about extreme knitting that you love so much?
“It’s all about wellbeing and mindfulness for me. I’m one of those people that can’t keep my mind still and has to be busy all the time. From my own experience, because it involves your whole body and not just your hands you are completely preoccupied by the task at hand. It’s really the best form of cheap therapy there is. You just get lost in it and it becomes a beautiful reprieve and an exercise in mindfulness, particularly for people who are prone to anxiety and depression. It’s just the best gift I know to pass on to someone and has been my salvation from anxiety and depression without a doubt.”
It’s wonderful that you are so willing to share your craft with others, is teaching a passion of yours too?
“I love sharing what I do to help others. I’ve always loved talking to people. I really love serious and real conversations and connecting with people. The workshop for the classes give me a platform to do that. There’s always someone in the class who has a heart beating too fast, or is going through something and I want to show that if I can turn my life around, you can too.”
What can we expect to come away with from the class on Saturday?
“Physically, everyone will walk away with their own little hand knitted creation. I teach everyone how to hand knit a 1kg ball of beautiful merino wool but the point of the workshop is not really about the end but more about the journey. The focus will be on what extreme knitting can do for the participants in terms of their wellbeing. I’ll also talk about the wool itself because it has its own magic. Its very important to me that the nature of the fibre is understood, that it isn’t a yarn and is actually a felted fibre and I discuss the felting process and the wool industry in general. I will also share my own story.”
What: Extreme Knitting with Jacqui Fink
When: Saturday 15 September 2018 from 10:30am – 12:30pm
Where: Canberra Centre, Canberra City
